Sharing the story of Plankton Chronicles Project: Q&A with Tierney Thys

Yesterday’s featured TED video comes from a new TED-Ed partnership with the marine biologist Tierney Thys — whose passion (aside from swimming with the giant Mola mola fish) is sharing new ideas in science using amazing film and images from underwater expeditions. The first product of the Stories from the Sea series is “The secret life of plankton,” a short film narrated by a fish … and starring the tiny, colorful, complicated creatures collectively known as plankton. To make the film, Thys collaborated with the pioneering expedition Plankton Chronicles Project.

MissionBlue.org spoke with Tierney about creating the video. From their Q&A:

Where did you get the idea to cast a fish as the narrator?

As a group, our little production team all brainstormed on how best to tell the story of plankton. We knew we wanted to start topside and then dive in to the strange world of plankton. We brainstormed up all sorts of places, and with Noé Sardet and Sharif Mirshak we agreed that we should start in a fish market and see where that took us. When I went to write the script, it was the fish that started speaking. I listened and wrote down what that lovely snapper said.

Read the full Q&A on MissionBlue.org >>

Plankton footage comes from the Plankton Chronicles Project.
Courtesy of:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
Tara Oceans Expeditions,
Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche sur Mer (OOV)
UPMC, Sorbonne Université, Paris
Siphonophore footage from:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)